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Things To Know: Allen School Tamale Festival

Upcoming happenings in, and news about, San Bruno.

Saturday, Dec. 15th   12-2 pm, is the Allen School Tamale Festival in San Bruno! Please come out and enjoy tamales from Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala! $2.00 per tamale and $1.00 atole (a delicious drink, kind of like hot chocolate).  Donations of cupcakes, cookies, or other baked goods for the "cake walk", are welcome!  We will also have a few performers to sing and dance "ballet folklorico"! 

Monday, Dec. 17. Jose Luis Orozco in Concert at 6:30 PM at the San Bruno Library Community Room. This will be a special evening with the nationally known performer of Latin American children’s songs. He has written and/or recorded almost all the songs the library uses in their bilingual storytime!  Sponsored by San Mateo County Head Start.

Saturday, Dec. 22 & Sunday Dec. 23. San Bruno Library will be closed.

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Monday, Dec. 24 & Tuesday Dec. 25. The City of San Bruno offices will be closed. EMERGENCY services will continue to respond as needed.

Dec. 26-Jan 4. Winter Camp.  It’s almost Winter Vacation and you are probably looking for something for your children to do during their school break. San Bruno Community Services Department is offering Winter Vacation Camp! Participants will join Recreation Leaders in games, songs, cooking, sports, arts and crafts, gift making and all around fun. Recreation Leaders will keep your children active all day! Bring a bag lunch each day! No camp 12/24, 12/25 & 1/1. Ages 4-11. For more information view page 11 of the Community Services Activity Guide.

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Friday, Jan. 18, 2013. New Year’s Teen Dance. Tickets $7.00 pre-sale, $10 at the door.  Glow Necklaces only $2.00. Meet up with all of your friends and dance to your favorite songs. Our live D.J. will be there with the latest and greatest songs of the year. Dances are held from 7-9:30pm at the Veterans Memorial Rec­reation Center. Tickets will go on sale one week before the dance at Parkside Intermediate School and at the Recreation Center.  Student ID cards will be checked at the door. Dances are open to 7th and 8th graders only. The dances are not school sponsored or PTA events.

Saturday, Feb. 9th. Father/Daughter Dinner Dance. Tickets sell out fast. Contact Park & Rec. Dept. dbrewer@sanbruno.ca.gov

San Bruno Chamber News: A number of Chamber mixers (one in January at Wells Fargo Bank) are being planned along with at least one re-grand opening and at least one new grand opening hopefully in January.  It’s not to early to let the Chamber know that YOU want to be notified when reservations for table display space is being taken for “Taste of San Bruno – 2013”.  Questions: 650-588-0180 or office@sanbrunochamber.com 

CONTINUING EVENTS NEEDING YOUR SUPPORT:

The San Bruno Fire Department is collecting new unwrapped toys for San Bruno children through high school age.  Unwrapped new gifts should be  delivered during normal office hours Monday through Friday to Fire Station 51 on El Camino Real next to City Hall.  If you donate one or more gifts, when you and your family sit down to open your gifts, you should feel a little better knowing you and your donation has made someone else’s Christmas morning just a little merrier.

Relay For Life: San Bruno Vice Mayor Ken Ibarra kenibarra@yahoo.com and American Cancer Society’s Julie Pierce Julie.Pierce@cancer.org are building the Relay For Life of San Bruno event Saturday April 27th & Sunday April 28th 2013. Form YOUR own Team. Be a part of a committee.  Volunteer for the event. GOTO www.relayforlife.org/sanbrunoca and there you can sign up to form your own team or join an existing team OR just make a donation to an individual team member or to a team. Your friends and relatives from all over the WORLD can go to the San Bruno Relay For Life team web page www.relayforlife.org/sanbrunoca and at least make a small donation. Join and FIGHT FOR THE CURE!

SAVE THE DATE:  Monday, Jan. 7 2013 – Noon.  San Bruno Chamber of Commerce Installation of 2013 Board Members and State of the City Address from San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane at Skyline College. Invitations to go out soon.  Questions:  650-588-0180 or office@sanbrunochamber.com

SAVE THE DATE:  Monday, Jan 7 2013 - 6-8 p.m.  The City's Transit Corridor Plan will be the topic of an Open House at City Hall.  Residents are invited to attend any time during the 2 hours to review the plan and ask questions of City staff on the proposed plan.

SAVE THE DATE:  Saturday, January 26, 2013 – Senior Showcase Health & Wellness Fair 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Millbrae Recreation Center, 477 Lincoln Circle. Event sponsorships are now available, Sponsorship info: Kerry McArdle, Daily Journal, 650-303-6735 or Kerry@smdailyjournal.com The Senior Showcase has partnered with the Millbrae Health & Wellness Fair for a  great, FREE community event. This well-established event has taken placein in Millbrae for the last six years. There will be over 50 tables with senior resources and services, FREE refreshments, health screening stations, goody  bags, FREE document shredding and more.

SAVE THE DATE:  Saturday, February 9th 2013, 10 am-3pm Friends of the Library Book Sale.  Friends of the San Bruno Public Library Contact (650) 359-7917

Deadline - Jan. 11th 2013. 2nd-5th Grade Youth Basketball League Registration. The 5 on 5 basketball league is open to all boys and girlsattending 2nd-5th grade. Practices will be held at San Bruno Elementary School sites after school (roughly 3:00pm) two days a week. Games will be played on Saturday mornings at San Bruno Recreation Center Gym.

Deadline  - Jan. 16th 2013.  6th Grade Parkside Basketball League Registration. Registration is now open for 6th grade basketball at Parkside. Register early to secure a space.

Deadline  - Jan. 17th 2013. Take A Plunge Registration to guarantee a t-shirt for the January 26th San Bruno Park Pool “Plunge” at 8:30 am. Your $20.00 proceeds benefit the Youth Enrichment Scholarship Fund: Code 5561.101. Dust off your swimsuits and start off the New Year right! Take a “plunge” in our unheated San Bruno Park Pool.  This annual fun event will benefit our Youth Scholarship Fund. Each partici­pant will receive a long sleeve t-shirt and snacks after they take the plunge.  Please indicate on the registration form what size t-shirt you would like. Ages 5-over.

Deadline  - Friday, Feb. 1st 2013. Make your nomination for the Community Recognition Award. Do you know a volunteer in the San Bruno community who is deserving of recognition for all the hard work and dedication he/she has demonstrated? If your answer is yes, please nominate him/her for a Community Recognition Award. The San Bruno Parks and Recreation Commission will review applications, and the award will be publicly presented to the deserving recipient at a tele­vised Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting. Nominations can be submitted by mail to: San Bruno Recreation Division Attn: Community Recognition Award 567 El Camino Real San Bruno, CA 94066 or E=Mailed to: Form attached  dbrewer@sanbruno.ca.gov.

IN CASE YOU MISSED THESE:

Tuesday, Dec. 11th at the City Council meets at the Senior Center 1555 Crystal Spring Road, Jim Porter of the San Mateo County Department of Public Works updated the Council and residents on the situation that allowed Cupid Row to AGAIN overflow it’s banks and flow through the San Bruno Community Gardens – similar to what happened in December 2002 – January 2003 even though the County spend many of your Flood Control TAX dollars on improvements.  Mr. Porter advised the Council that two governmental agencies need to approve any EMERGENCY Permit for work in the canal to cut and or remove growth and he has already obtained approval from one and he expects to receive approval from the other within the next few days.  Work could then be scheduled to begin almost immediately.  It is good to see that with the big storm of December 2nd, Mr. Porter and the County Community Service Department almost immediately stepped up to the plate and initiated the permit requests process that should lead to very soon BEGINNING the work.  This is so much faster than in years past when it took over a month to get basically a renewal on the same permit requests that were approved the previous year.  Hopefully the County and SFIA will now work much faster and continually to return the canal from Huntington to the tide gates to its original design capacity and keep it at this capacity.  Mr. Porter also mentioned that there might be consideration to increase the width of part of the canal to assist in holding additional water, so water does not as easily overflow.  Thanks to San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane and City Manager Connie Jackson for arranging for Mr. Porter’s Council attendance and presentation and his answering of a few questions.

At the December 11th Council Meeting:

1. Council adopted the resolution approving a contract with the San Mateo County Housing Department for %63,000.00 in Block Grant Funds to make Accessibility Improvements to the downstairs Library meeting room restrooms.  This with a previous similar grant totals $140,000.00 to modernize our library.  This is FREE money.

2. Each year in December the Council rotates the position of Vice Mayor and now Councilwoman Irene O'Connell will serve as Vice Mayor until next December.

3. Council adopted the resolution accepting a donation from the San Bruno Lions Club for labor and materials to make improvements to Beckner Shelter with the approximate value of $28,000.00. 4. Vice Mayor O'Connell reported that the Beautification Task Force will be taking photos of Holiday Lights throughout San Bruno December 16th and 17th and requests citizens to send their own photos to ioconnell@sanbruno.ca.gov  These photos will be included in the upcoming San Bruno Cable photo loop showing San Bruno Holiday lights.

San Bruno Dog Park:  Yes, San Bruno has a FREE Dog Park located at Commodore Drive @ Cherry Avenue.  Dogs are not allowed in any San Bruno Park besides the dog park.  Open year round from 7:00 am til dusk.  A Dog Park Guide is available on the City’s website at www.sanbruno.ca.gov/parks_main.asp and it contains information on Penninsula areas that allow dogs and the amenities that are available.

San Bruno 4H Club Contact (650) 952-1209 or (650) 583-7249

San Bruno Community Gardens - Contact (650) 871-1958  Gardenis located at the south end of First Avenue near Lions Field.

Sports Teams in San Bruno:

Tee Ball & Peewee League (5-10 yrs) - Ray Scarabosio 689-5543 - League Mar-Jun, Sign-ups begin in Jan www.sbpw.org

Bronco Division (11-12 yrs) - John Seevers 871-8493 - League: MidFebruary-June, Sign-ups end of January

Pony Division (13-14 yrs) - Jim Thiel - 589-4432 - League: Mid February-June, Sign-ups end of January

YOU CAN HELP! The holiday season is here and it's a time when we are united by thoughts of community and by visions of shared family meals. Although it isn't obvious who they are, I suspect you see people every day who will struggle to put food on the table.  Amanda is one of those people. She balances working, attending college, and making sure her sons have the food they need to live healthy lives.  Amanda makes too much money to qualify for food stamps, but not enough to cover the cost of providing healthy meals to feed her children.  That's where Second Harvest Food Bank comes in. With your support, we work to close this "meal gap" in our community: "There would be times when we didn't have money to buy fruits and vegetables, and would buy cheaper foods that aren't necessarily healthy for you. Right before I learned about the KidsNOW program I found out that my oldest son had ADHD. I couldn't believe the changes I saw in my son's behavior after we started receiving healthy groceries from the Food Bank." Your generous donation will provide nutritious meals for families like Amanda's. With your help we can ensure that every hungry neighbor can enjoy a meal this holiday season with their loved ones. GOTO: https://www.shfb.org/Page.aspx?pid=714 to make your donation & Thanks.

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